April 25, 2018

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's restriction on travel to the United States from a handful of mostly Muslim countries returns to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, facing better prospects than the previous versions that were largely rejected by the courts.The case is a critical legal test for a pillar of Trump's immigration policy. Credit: nbcnews

ENGLISH:
And it marks the first time the court will give a full hearing to one of the president's initiatives. The justices will decide whether this third try at a travel ban is legally acceptable — as the result of a deliberate process to identify high-risk countries whose nationals should largely be prevented from entering the country — or is merely a dressed up form of the Muslim ban promised during the Trump campaign.
Imposed last September by presidential proclamation, the latest version maintains limits on granting visas to travelers from five of the six countries covered by the original travel executive order — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. It lifts restrictions on visitors from Sudan and adds new limits on those from North Korea and Venezuela. Chad was part of the proclamation, but it was removed April 10, after the White House said the country met enhanced visa security requirements.

The state of Hawaii, three of its residents and a Muslim-American group challenged the new restrictions, and a federal judge blocked enforcement. But the Supreme Court lifted that stay in December, and the government has been enforcing it in full since. Only Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented, a sign that the administration may fare better with this version.